Put the Book Down
by Jenny27261
Summary: Belle keeps Ruby awake at night with her reading. Ruby decides to take action. Red Beauty with hints of Swan Queen ;)


**Heya readers! After last week's episode I totally got hit with some serious Red Beauty feels so this sorta came from that. Don't worry I'm still working on my other stuff I just had to get this out of my system. So I hope you enjoy it! Review and tell me if you do and who knows, you might find more stuff like this around here eventually ;D **

**Happy reading!**

* * *

Ruby was tired.

Not just tired, she was entirely exhausted of any energy she could have hoped to have. The waitress hadn't slept a full night in three weeks and it was beginning to show. The bags under her eyes had taken an uncoverable shade of purple through her paling skin and her entire body had begun to slouch through the day instead of maintaining the perky posture she was known for.

The reason?

Belle. No. Not in that way either. Ruby should only be so lucky.

No. Belle had recently gotten into the habit of reading before bed and long into the night after she was supposed to go to sleep. Ruby could have sworn that she had seen her girlfriend go through two books in a night without rest until she had read every single word. Of course, Ruby, being the good girlfriend she was, refused to go to bed until Belle had joined her. She loved watching Belle immerse herself in the world of whatever story she had chosen for the night. When something had become particularly perilous, Belle's face would stretch into an excited grin, a glimmer of fear in her eyes that would quickly relax as the problem would resolve itself. Ruby had long ago decided that her favorite reading expression of Belle's was when the ending didn't exactly resolve itself. Belle's nose would wrinkle up and she would frown, but only slightly and she would quickly put the book down, blink, then pick it up again to make sure she had read it correctly. That always made Ruby smile.

The smiles were fading quickly though as she became more sleep deprived by the day. People were beginning to notice, more specifically, Emma was beginning to notice. Not that it was that hard, in Emma's defense, she had seen Ruby fall face first into a bowl of cereal at the diner first...she was starting to snore. Emma shook Ruby's shoulder gently, startling the brunette awake.

"At least the bowl was almost empty, I was starting to worry you were going to drown or something..." Emma smiled apologetically at her friend. "So why haven't you been sleeping?" Ruby put her head in her hands and let out a long yawn.

"Belle keeps me up reading all night...I mean, she's the one reading but I hate going to bed without her and she needs to have light to read and even if the door is closed I can see light coming through the bottom of the door...I can't sleep unless it's totally dark so here I am..." Ruby rambled ending her speech with a short sigh. She even rubbed her eyes, revealing an even darker circle under her eye than her makeup had let on.

"Well then go to bed. I'm pretty sure Belle wouldn't kill you if you were tired. Why don't you ask Granny for the day off? I'm sure she'd understand."

"Not really, she would stay up even more than I have to make sure I didn't kill anything before I knew I was a wolf. I mean, she wouldn't rest for an entire week every month. I can handle losing a few hours of sleep every night..."

"How many hours Ruby?" Emma asked sternly, grimacing when she realized how much she sounded like her mother in that moment.

"I don't know...we don't get to bed until two...maybe three on a bad night and I'm up at five to open the diner so..."

"Oh god Ruby! You need to go home and go to bed! I'll go talk to Granny."

"No! Emma it's fine! I promise! Wolf's Time is coming up anyways, if I'm lucky I can go find a shed to sleep in all night and nobody will question it." Ruby shrugged.

"Okay, no. Don't do that...I've had my fair share of late nights at the station and do you know what Regina does? She waltzes over to the station wearing nothing but an overcoat and heels. That sure as hell get's my attention so we-"

"Oh gross stop! Please!" Ruby covered her ears, too tired to even enjoy thinking about how naughty their former mayor actually was when nobody was looking. "So...I just have to get Belle's attention? That's the point of your story right? Please tell me you weren't just bragging because that's just not fair." Ruby put her head back down on the counter. "We haven't had sex in almost a month, whenever I want to it's 'Oh Ruby I'm just getting to the best part!' in that stupid adorable accent of hers and whenever she wants to I'm too tired. It. Isn't. Fair." Ruby punctuated, feeling sobs begin to wrack her body. Emma rubbed her friend's back sympathetically.

"It's going to be alright. Maybe you can kill two birds with one stone. I have to get going, David is expecting me back at the station..." Emma frowned as she stood up. "Oh...and uh Ruby?"

"What?" The waitress looked up with a truly hopeless expression painted on her face.

"You have cheerios in your hair..." Emma chuckled as she walked out, the tiny bell sounding more like it belonged to a church it was so loud in Ruby's ears. She put her head down and covered her ears. Once the sound had subsided she slowly pulled the pieces of cereal from her hair when it hit her. She'd get her sleep tonight if it killed her.

* * *

Belle sat by the fireplace in the living room of the tiny apartment above the library, why a fireplace was even in such a flammable location she never understood but she loved the light that it gave the room, it had to be her favorite place to read at. Tonight though she had forgotten to retrieve logs for the fire and was stuck with a smaller fire than usual, which would have been fine if it weren't so cold today. She shivered slightly, crawling closer to the tiny flames for warmth. She sat enjoying some story about a prince in disguise, she was almost to chapter three when a pair of golden eyes met her own. A wolf stood in the apartment, almost causing Belle to shriek until she looked out the window and remembered that it was the first night of Wolf's Time.

"Ruby? Is that you?" Belle gasped. The wolf tilted her head and licked her cheek before sitting down, panting happily as a regular dog would. Ruby cuddled up next to Belle for a moment before getting up and walking away. "Ruby! Where are you going?" Belle questioned, craning her neck to look for the wolf that was now roaming her apartment freely. She hadn't understood the full details of Ruby's transformation and what it entailed, she seemed rather aware but it was difficult to be sure.

The wolf returned moments later with a large blanket between her teeth. At first Belle objected to Ruby's advances but a few small whimpers from the wolf had changed her mind faster than she had imagined. Ruby cuddled up in Belle's lap, pulling the blanket over the two of them with her mouth. For a while they stayed like that, nestled happily together, perfectly content to stay together for eternity. Belle was happy to cuddle up with the wolf, only able to imagine what pain the poor girl must have been going through if her books were to be trusted. Little did she know that all those books were merely works of fiction and Ruby was smiling to herself, ready to strike at any moment.

Belle had reached chapter six when the fire had died down, leaving the two of them huddling closer for warmth, a lamp now taking the fire's place for light. That's when Ruby finally shifted back. Her arms were wrapped around Belle's abdomen with her head cradled by her girlfriend's lap. Ruby had to act now. She arched her back so she was nose to nose with Belle, effectively blocking her view of the book.

"Ruby what are you doing?" Belle questioned, her suspicions vanished the moment the werewolf placed a gentle kiss where her jaw and earlobe met, her lips trailed downward, Belle's gaze following her until she noticed Ruby's entire body. "You're naked..." Her throat went dry.

"Yup." Ruby looked back up at her and kissed her hard on the lips. "What are you going to do about it?" Belle's book fell to the floor, it didn't even bother her when the spine cracked slightly upon the impact. Her face had turned beet red.

"Let's go to bed, I don't think I feel like reading very much tonight..." Belle stood up and began to make her way to the bedroom. Ruby stood eagerly, very ready for whatever the night had in store for her. "And Ruby?"

"Yes dear?" The werewolf flashed an award winning smile.

"Don't bring the blanket with you."

It was barely ten.

* * *

The following morning Ruby walked down the street from Belle's apartment to begin work for the day, feeling more refreshed than ever, she had slept rather well that night and for extra measure, she had slept in with Granny's permission.

The air was crisp and pleasant as she kissed her girlfriend goodbye that morning, the sun was shining and the birds were actually chirping in the distance. She couldn't help but smile as the wind gently breeze around her face. Above all, she felt well rested, more so than she had in the past month. Ruby had realized that one of the best feelings in the world had to have been waking up and feeling completely sated with Belle's softly snoring frame clinging to her side.

Perhaps it was the combination of all these things that made Ruby so happy that morning. Regardless, she grinned from ear to ear, causing several to stop and stare.

She opened the door to the diner to find Regina leaving with two coffees in her hand. Ruby's grin only grew as she pulled the other woman into a tight hug.

"Miss Lucas! What do you think you're doing?" Regina tried not to shriek.

"Thank you so much Regina. Your next order is totally on the house!"

"And what exactly have I don't to earn such...sudden praise?" Regina's eyebrow raised. Ruby hesitated to respond, biting her bottom lip before Belle approached the pair.

"Good morning Regina." Belle gave a soft smile. She quickly turned around and wrapped her arms around Ruby's waist. "Thank you, I hadn't realized how much my reading was effecting me. I haven't slept that well in weeks." Regina's eyes widened slightly at the implication, though knowing Belle, she had her doubts. Emma rounded the corner, instantly noticing the scene. Ruby and Belle were caught in an embrace that made her sick it was so sweet and Regina standing there, frozen and clearly uncomfortable. Emma quickly linked arms with her wife and walked away just as fast.

"What's gotten into them?" Regina sputtered.

"I'll tell you later." Emma looked back and winked at Ruby, who gave a small thumbs up behind Belle's back.

Emma smiled to herself.

_'Damn I'm good.'_

* * *

**So there you have it! Hope you enjoyed the story! R&R! Thanks again!**

**Jenny**


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